No Place Like Home

Home Goods & Housewares to Motivate & Inspire

By Emily Tipping

When Dorothy clicked her heels and repeated the phrase, "There's no place like home," she probably wasn't imagining the comforts of her own coffeepot or the convenience of her juicer and toaster oven. Still, there's no denying that one of the things that makes home everyone's favorite place to go at the end of the day is the fact that it's ours. That's where our things are. That's where we find our comforts. That's where we can settle down and settle in. And, with a plethora of innovative and useful home goods available to the incentive and rewards market, you can give your audience new ways to feather their nests and make their homes just a bit more … well, homey. From coffeemakers that brew the perfect cup to cookware that serves up a great dish, from barware to pour a favorite end-of-day beverage into to the fridge where you keep that beverage cool, this category truly does offer something for everyone.

"In order to execute a successful rewards program, it must be well rounded in terms of offering multiple categories and price points to appeal to the majority of its program participants," said Kenneth Fishman, purchasing manager for Rymax Marketing Services Inc. "Due to the variety of subcategories and price points, the home goods category achieves this need."

Indeed, home goods provide mass appeal with "… categories, brands and seasonal offerings for this category to be top of mind all year," according to Steve Izykowski, national account manager for Hamilton Beach Inc. But on top of that, he said that there has been "… real innovation as of late in this category."

Indeed, the appeal of housewares and home goods is such that it reaches across all generations and personality types. Virtually everyone can find something in this category that they either need or just really want to have in their own home.

"We're seeing the millennials are more interested in these programs and this category now," said Eric Anderson, director of sales for PMC. "Small kitchen appliances are redeeming so strongly, and the millennials are very interested. Most of them are tech-savvy, so you would think technology and electronics would have more appeal, but that's not always the case."

Fishman agreed, adding that there are some differences in the types of products that appeal to different generational cohorts. "Many loyalty and incentive programs use strategies such as segmentation in order to target the demographic profile of the program audience," he said. "Studies have shown that generations play a major role in targeting these different demographics. For example, baby boomers ages 51 to 69 now have the time to focus on activities they want to do, such as hosting dinner parties and gatherings at their home since their own children are grown and out of the house. Therefore, high-end brands like Lalique and Wolf are highly desirable products to baby boomers to assist in creating that sophisticated and classy atmosphere in their home. While millennials, ages 21 to 33, are seeking products that are more functional and affordable, like Farberware and Rachel Ray to utilize for hosting their gatherings."

Whether they're millennials or baby boomers, whether they're avid party hosts or they prefer to hang out at home alone, your program participants will find a wealth of enticing, motivating options when you make housewares and home goods part of your program lineup.